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Sunday, 29 April 2012

Don't mention the drought!

At the time of writing it only needs one thundery downpour to make this the wettest April for well over 100 years. Looking at the 10 wettest Aprils since 1900 there are hints that wet Aprils do not bode well for the following summers.
10th wettest April, 1907, was followed by a persistently cool summer with no temperatures exceeding 25C. June was wet but the other summer months were drier than average although the weather remained unsettled.
9th wettest April, 1918, was followed by a cool June, a fairly cool and very wet July, and a rather dry August with temperatures only slightly below average.
8th wettest April , 1981, was followed by a cool, but rather dry June, a rather cool but fairly wet July, and a reasonably dry and warm August.
7th wettest April, 1964, was followed by a cool and wet June, a decent July and an average August.
6th wettest April, 1998, was followed by a wet June with near average temperatures, a dry, but rather cool July, but a dry and warm August.
5th wettest April, 1924, was followed by a cool and wet summer with June and July being particularly wet.
4th wettest April, 1966, was followed by a near average June but the rest of the summer was mostly cool and wet.
3rd wettest April, 1931, was followed by a reasonable June but a poor July and a poor and particularly wet August.
2nd wettest April. 1983, was followed by a good summer with plenty of dry weather and an outstandingly warm July.
Wettest April was 2000 and was followed by a pleasant June, a cool July and a reasonable August.
Overall, out of the 10 years there were only 3 acceptable summers, although one of these was exceptionally good.

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Daily observations of the weather have been carried out since 1983. Firstly, in Tooting, London SW18; and since 1988 in Morden (Surrey) within a few hundred metres of the London SW19 and SW20 postal areas.